Guides

The life of wood & time.

Practical guides for keeping your furniture looking its best between professional restorations — and knowing when it's time to bring a piece in.

Updated July 24, 2026

Florida Humidity and Wood Furniture: What It Does and How to Live With It

Wood moves with the seasons everywhere. On the Gulf coast it moves more, and it moves in both directions — which is what actually damages furniture here.

Read guide

Updated July 24, 2026

How to Remove White Water Rings from Wood Furniture

White rings are usually moisture trapped in the finish, not damage to the wood — which is why they often come out with patience rather than refinishing.

Read guide

Updated July 24, 2026

Is My Furniture Worth Restoring? What to Look At First

Five checks you can do yourself, in about ten minutes, that will tell you most of what a restorer would tell you.

Read guide

Updated July 24, 2026

Lacquer vs. Polyurethane vs. Shellac: Choosing a Wood Finish

The practical differences between the three finishes you're most likely to be offered, and which one suits how a piece will actually be used.

Read guide

Updated July 24, 2026

Refinishing vs. Reupholstering: Which Does Your Piece Need?

The two trades solve different problems and are often confused. A short guide to telling which one your chair or sofa actually needs — or whether it needs both.

Read guide

Updated July 24, 2026

Restore or Replace? How to Decide About a Piece of Furniture

A practical framework for deciding whether a piece is worth restoring, including the cases where the honest answer is that it isn't.

Read guide

Updated July 15, 2026

How to Care for Teak Furniture

A general guide to keeping teak furniture — indoor or outdoor — looking its best between professional refinishing.

Read guide

Have a piece that needs more than a guide?

Send photos and your vision — our team will tell you what's possible.

Start Your Restoration Story

Workshop and record

Two names, one piece of furniture.

Alberto's Furniture Refinishing is the workshop. It is where the stripping, the repair and the finishing happen, by hand, and where you book the work.

Provenance Project is the record. It is our second site, and it holds the documented history of a piece — photographs, what the piece is, the condition it was in, and what we did to it. The record travels with the furniture, so the next owner, an heir, or an adjuster does not have to take anyone's word for it.

You never have to go looking for it. Ask for an estimate right here, and if the piece comes into the shop its record is built as the work happens — same workshop, same people, kept on provenanceproject.app so it outlives any one invoice.